A Comparative Analysis of the Structuralism Theories against Data from the Subject's Verbal Accounts in Arabic and English*

The scheme of the lexicon-syntax interface in the configuration of the language faculty still remains a formidable and controversial issue in theoretical especially structural linguistics. The debates bring together the opposing structuralism ideas on the relation between syntax and semantics. Continuing attempts to improve our understanding of this interface help us gain further insights into many intriguing puzzles, including the linguistic behaviour of nouns, verbs, propositions and their arguments. The present study is framed to formulate a comparative analysis of two structuralism theories against data from the subject's verbal accounts in both Arabic and English in the form of task performance in order to evaluate the claims put forth by these theories as to the nature of the lexicon-syntax integration or insulation. So the paper sets out the aim of providing the following question with an empirically-based suitable answer regarding how lexical information is deployed in syntactic structure in real-time linguistic events: Does sentence construction take place with an emphasis on separation of the knowledge of lexicon and grammar or integration of the two? On this ground, a number of 18 Arabic and English senior English major students studying in the departments of English and Arabic languages of IKIU University participated in the study. The analyzed data show consistency with an integration-based claim supporting the view that lexicon must be an active component of the grammar.